Carriage-top



(No Model.)

1-]. E. WITHAM.

CARRIAGE TOP.

Patented Mar 31, 1885.

Fig.3,

a; $5117, ig

N. PETERS, Phomumu m hur. Washington, D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN EB-ASTUS VVITHAM, ()F STARK, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

CARRIAGE-TOP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 314,903, dated March31,1885.

Application filed August 5, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it 1am concern:

' Be it known that I, EDWIN ERASTUS WITH- AM. of Stark, in thecountyofOoos, ofthe State of New Hampshire, have invented a new anduseful Improvement inWlieeled Carriages Irovided with Turn-Down Hoods;and Idohereby declare the same to be described in the follow ingspecification and represented in the accompanying drawings, of whichFigure 1 is a side view, and Fig. 2 a longi tudinal section. of the bodyand hood of a buggy as provided with my invention, the na ture of whichis defined in the claim hereinafter presented. Fig. 3 is a transversesection of the same.

My said invention is to enable theturn-down hood of a buggy or wheeledcarriage to be wholly or partially raised or lowered by a person withinthe carriagebody by mechanism applied to thelatter. By means of it thehood can also be retained in apartially-raised position. For thispurpose I have, as usual, to the hood A, on each side thereof, a prop,B, composed of two toggles or bars, a a, rule-jointed to gether at theirinner ends, the upper one beiug pivoted to the front bow of the hood.The two lower bars of the two props are connected by and firully fixedto a shaft. 0, extended from one to the other of them, andjournaled inhearings in the opposite sides of the body, such shaft being beneath theseat. On the said shaft there is fixed within the body and close to oneside thereof two ratchet-wheels, c d, having teeth formed as shown.Between these wheels is a lever, D, which is fulcrumed on the shaft, andhas fulcrumed to it a furcated lever, E, whose fulcrum is shown at c. A

pawl or catch lever, F, pivoted to the side of the body and arrangedwith the ratchet-wheel c, as represented, serves when in engagement withsuch wheel to hold it from revolving.

A person while sitting upon the seat can either raise or depress thehood without taking hold of it. To efiect the raising of it he will onlyhave to take hold of the lever D and reciprocate it vertically, so as tocause the furcated lever in descending to engage with the ratchet-wheeld, and in rising to slip thereon, the retaining pawl-lever suflicing,with the ratchet-wheel c, to hold the hood from falling backward aftereach of its movements upward. To depress the hood the person has only tothrow the retaining-pawl out of action with the ratchet-wheel c and takehold of both levers and to move them, so as to cause the upper tooth orprong of the furcated one to engage with the ratchet-wheel d in a mannerto turn it backward.

Instead of having under the seat the mechanism for revolving the shaltor rod connecting the two props, such shaft or rod may have a beveledgear on it to engage with another such gear on a shaft extending forwardtoward and under the dasher. dash er, mechanism, substantially asdescribed, may be applied for turning such shaft either way transverselyof it.

I claim The combination of a carriage-body.its turndown hood, and thetwo side props of the latter with a shaft connecting such props at theirlower ends, mechanism for imparting to such shaft rotary motion ineither direction transversely of it, and mechanism for retaining thehood in a raised or partiallyelevated position, the mechanismhereinbefore described for turning the shaft being the ratchet-wheel d,the lever D, and furcated lever E, and the mechanism for preventing suchshaft from being back-turned being the ratchet-wheel c and theretaining-pawl or catch-lever F, all being substantially and to operateas set forth.

EDWIN ERASTUS WI'IHAM.

Vitnesses:

ALFRED R. EVANS, DANIEL LEAOH.

To this shaft and the

